Mississippi reported additional new coronavirus cases and deaths Monday as the state continues to rapidly rollout vaccinations across the state.

The Mississippi State Health Department reported three new deaths on Monday, bringing the total death toll to 5,524. In the first 17 days of January 739 deaths have been reported, making it third on the list of most COVID deaths reported since the pandemic began. In December, 982 deaths were reported. In August, 813 were reported.

If the pace of deaths reported in January were to continue through the end of the month, the state may see as many as 1,300 deaths.

Because some deaths reported on a given day or in a given month may have occurred earlier, not all of the deaths reported Monday occurred in the last 24 hours.

The state reported Monday 1,457 new cases were found in the last 24 hours. That brings the total number of cases found in the state since the pandemic began to 253,932.

The 14-day, daily average of new cases rose to 1,945 on Monday.

The 7-day, daily average of new cases dipped to 2,161 with Monday’s update.

Of the total cases, the state believes approximately 207,769 cases have recovered and while many people who are infected with the virus may only have moderate or even no visible symptoms, others can get gravely ill and can die as a result.